Disengaging gear for lifeboats



March 18, 1930. P. a. PERSSON DISENGAGING GEAR FOR LIFE BOATS Filed July16, 1929 M m n im W T Maw Patented Mar. 18, 1930 UNITED STATES PERIBOTVID PERSSON, F MALMO, SWEDEN DISENGAGING GEAR FOR LIFEBOATSApplication filed July 16, 1929, Serial No. 378,719, and in Sweden July21, 1928.

The present invention refers to disengaging gears for life boats of thekind consisting of turnable hooks which in a manner known in itself areprovided with toothed segments for coaction with slidable toothed racksor the like for turning the hooks, locking members normally preventingthe displacement of said toothed racks in a direction for disengagingthe hooks being simultaneously releasable by means of acommon handle, sothat the hooks at both ends of the boat may be simultaneously disengagedat the release of the locking members. The locking members are alsocombined with the toothed racks in such am'anner that the latter aredisplaceable by means of the former into a position for engaging thehooks with the tackle eyes carrying the boat. As the locking members arereleasable by means of the handle irrespective O of whether the hooksare under influence of the weight of the manned boat or not, thedisengagement of the hooks may be performed at any moment during thelaunching, even if the boat is not afloat on the water, if the hooks areconstructed in the manner specified be low. This fact involves a verygreat. advantage, as it permits the boat to be disengaged, for instancewhen not entirely lowered and lifted by the crest of a'wave, so that thesevere stresses arising on the tackles when the wave falls again will beavoided. Further it is essential that the boat can be disengaged at anymoment, for instance when the ship is 5 rolling on the seas and the lifeboat runs the risk of being crushed against the shell-plating of theformer. Finally the life boat can also be disengaged when the ship isstill steaming ahead at a rather good speed, which is advan- 40 tageousin case of rescue work of every kind. According to the invention thehooks are disengaged from both of the tackles at exactly the same momenteven if one end of the life boat should have been lowered more than theother, and the disengaging gear, when once released, cannot hook onagain by itself. Hereby the disadvantage is eliminated, that One or bothof the tackle eyes, when hanging loose after the boat is afloat, cancatch again in case the boat should be further lowered by descendingbetween two waves. Hence, it

will be apparent that the disengaging gear according to the inventioninvolves asubstantially higher degree of reliability than similardevices now in use, which in most cases cannot be disengaged until thelift boat is afloat and the load relieved from the tackles supportingthe same.

A preferable embodiment of invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing wherein Fig. 1 shows an elevation of the disengaging gear, thethwart at the one end of the boat supporting the same being shown invertical section.

Fig. 2 shows the disengaging gear seen from the under side of thethwart.

Generally it is to be remarked that a re leasing gear of the kind shownin the drawing is intended to be at hand at each end of the life boat,both of such gears being manually operable by means of a common handle,

as will be described in the following.

The pivot pin 1 carries the hook 2 which is provided with a toothedsegment 2 placed in engagement with a toothed rack portion 3 of aslidable rod 3, so that the hook will thus be turned when sliding thesaid rod. The rod 3 is preferably mounted on a plate 8 connected with afork member 17 forming a bearing for the pin 1 and serving as a guidefor the hook 2 in transverse direction, such fork member by means of asturdy bolt 4 being affixed to the keel of the boat in a protectedposition beneath the thwart 6, which latter is I provided with anaperture 6" for inserting the eye 5 or the like provided on thesupporting tackle (not shown) and adapted for engagement with the hook 2when desired.

In the embodiment of invention shown in Fig. 1 the construction of thehook'2 is of such akind that its supporting surface 2, from the point ofcontactwith the eye 5 has a slightly'arc-shaped form upwardly. When theboat (and the load thereon) is supported by the eye 5, the tensionalstress arising will have a component tending to turn the hook 2 in adirection for disengagement of the eye 5. In order to prevent suchturning movement until desired, a locking member is provided, whichnormally prevents the backward displacement of the rod 3 until manuallyreleased.

In the embodimentshown the said locking member consists of a rockablearm 7 the end of which in the locking position is located in the path oftravel of the end of the rod 3 remote from the hook 2, or else such armcould engage airecess'in or coactwith another abutment provided on thesaid bar. For steadying the arm I in its locking position a guide slotis provided in the plate Ss'o th-at'ithe arm cannot yield for thepressure thereon from the rod 3 on account of the loadon-theh'ook.

By the means just described it will be apparent that an automaticdisengagement will 7 occur as soon 7 as the arm7-is manually reeye 5,and thus it will be self locking so that a disengagement of the samemust'be performed by 'fo'rciblyturning the hook by slidingthe rod 3. Ifthe point of thehook has a sufliciently low position, it may happen thatthe locking action willbe so strong that a manual disengagement cannotbeperformed unless the load is relieved from theeye 5, i; e. unless theboat is afloat on the water. In certain cases a constructionalmodification of this kind willperhapsbe desired,- butzin case of lifeboats for sea'going vessels the first embodiment described above nodo'ubti-s to be preferred, especially if a skilled'crew is accessible. iV I In respect of both of the embodiments of invention described aboveit is desirable or necessary that th'e rod3 can be manually displaced byme'ansof a handle 1O preferably at, fixed to a shaft 9iextendingr in thedirection of length offthe boat along the keel ofth'e same,

such shaft at each end' being provided with anarni7 oi the kinddescribed above.

According to the invention-the displacement of the rods 3 canbeperforined by'means of the handle 10- by the:intermediaryxot the arms7 and a'fork-shapediplate.12 pivotally 'mounted on a pin: 11 aflixed totheplate 8.

The plate 12 is provided with :a recess 13 for coaction with the freeendof the arm 7, and

.therodl3isiprovided with a bolt 14 penetratng an oblong 'slot 15 in theplate 12, such slot having a' shape so as to permit the turning of theplate simultaneously with the dislacement of the red 3 andthetoothedrackportion 'otthe same. Theplates is alse'previdefd "with slot 16penetrated by'the' bolt 14,

which is sl'idatle in said slo ing simultaneously and releasing the eye5.

In the drawing the mechanism is shown in a position for supporting theboat, the mechanism being locked. Supposing that an actuation of thehandle 10 causes a turning of the arm 7 from the position shown, theupper end of the same (see Fig. 2) will at first be drawn away from theend of the rod,3 and take a position opposite to theirecess 13 the plate12. Now, in case the hook 2 is of the automatically disengaging typedescribed above,

nofiurther 'inanilpnlation is required for disengaging the boat, theweight of the boat and the load-being sufiicient for instantaneouslypushing back the rod 3, the hook turn- On the contrary, if the hook 2 isof the automatically locking type referred to above, the turningof thearm 7 will atrfirst result in nothing, but the gear isready fordisengagementof the, boat from its tackles by a further pull in thehandle 10, assoon as the boat is afloat. At a manual disengagement ofthis kind the arm 7 now located in'thev recess 13 is turned further;Thereby-it strikes 2 the opposite side ofthe recess vand causes aturning movement of the plate 12 which latter by means of theconstructional parts described above positively displaces ,the rod 3 ina direction forv disengagingrthe" boat. As both of the hooks mounted atthe respective ends of the boat are combined iby means of the shaft 9,the disengagementis simultaneousat both ends. It is apparent'that thehooks 2 bymeansbf the handle also be turned back intotheirnorm-alYworking position, and thereafter they are locked by meansof the arm 7 then taking'the position shownin the drawing. "The handlemay suitably be combined with sealing means (st ing and lead seal) whenin the locking position, so that the. seal must be-broken at themanipulation of-the mechanism What I claimand desire to secure tyLettersPatent is: a r

1. A disengaging gear for life boats comprising at each end ofthe boat,a turnable hook member, a toothed segment connected therewith, a'sli'dab'le toothed rack member engagingsaid 'segment, locking meanscoac't ing with said rack member and normally preventing r the di placment; of j the same into a hook releasingposition, means forsimultaneous release of said locking means 7 'atb'oth ends'of the boat,and means for posilocking means.

2. A disengaging'gear'for life boatscbinprising, a turnable hook memberat each end of the boat,a toothed segment connected-with 1 each hook, atslidable; toothed 1 rack; member engaging "each segment, locking meanseoactinggwith each rack member'andgnormally preventing the displacementof thesameiiito a hook releasing position, a common-connect- Cil ingmeans connecting the locking means at both ends of the boat, a handlemeans connected With said connecting means, and means for positivelydisplacing the rack members into a hook releasing position, suchlast-mentioned means being combined with the said locking means andacted upon by the latter in such a manner, that after a release of thelocking means a continued movement of the same will positively displacethe hook members into a release position.

3. A disengaging gear for life boats according to claim 2, characterizedin that the connecting means between the locking means at both ends ofthe boat consists of a turnable shaft mounted longitudinally in the boatand connected with a handle bar.

4. A disengaging gear for life boats comprising, a turnable hook memberat each end of the boat, a toothed segment connected with each hook, aslidable toothed rack member engaging each segment, a shaft mountedlongitudinally in the boat and provided for each toothed rack memberwith a locking arm normally taking a position in the path of travel ofsaid rack member for preventing the hook to be turned into a releaseposition, handle means connected with said shaft for turning of thesame, and means actuated by the locking arms for positively displacingthe hooks into a release portion after the said arms have been moved outof the path of travel of the toothed rack members.

5. A disengaging gear for life boats comprising at each end of the boat,a turnable hook member, a toothed segment connected therewith, aslidable toothed rack member engaging said segment, a turnable lockingarm normally located in the path of travel a of said rack member so asto prevent the rack member to be slided into a hook releasing position,means for turning of said looking arm, a turnable connection memberbetween the locking arm and the toothed rack, a recess in saidconnection member adapted to take up the end of the locking arm, andmeans for pivotally connecting the connec tion member with the toothedrack member in a manner so that the latter may be slided by the turningmovement of the former when acted upon by the locking arm.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

PER BOTVID PERSSON.

